This classic is set in 1930's California and tells of an unlikely pair of optimistic laborers who work the dusty vegetable fields of California. Their names are Lennie Small and George Milton... with George being the leader. Lennie is a man of tremendous size, but due to a mental shortcoming had the mind of a young child. George on the other hand was 'small and quick and dark of face'.
The book joins our characters on their way to a new job on a ranch in the Salinas Valley. They are hot and tired and bothered after being duped by a bus driver into walking about four miles. At this point they stop for a drink and a rest at a little at a watering hole (the Salinas River actually). At this point we discover that Lennie has a weakness for soft things.. i.e mice and this had caused them to be ran out of Weed, a town upstate, after Lennie had grab the hold of a womans dress and refused to let go.
Lennie James
Lennie James
Lennie JamesThe woman then thought she was being attacked and the townsfolk sent a lynch mob after George and Lennie. They managed to escpae after hiding in a drain pipe that whole day. This incident greatly angers George because it lost them their job and out their dreams one step further away.
Their goal was to own a shack and an acre of land that they can call their own and to live of the 'fat of the land' and Lennie wanted to rasie rabbits. This telling of the their dream was greatly loved by Lennie.. especially and only when George told it to him (altough he knew it word from word). George also blames his current situation of down and out luck on Lennie...